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I found a few threads about outdoor growing on mycotopia but havent found much here concerning the topic. This is what i did.

Soaked straw for 2 days outside. Mixed straw with horse manure that has been sitting for more than 1 season. 4:1 straw:manure ratio about. Piled it on bottom of pots used for potting. Added colonized cracked corn, then another layer of substrate. Added another later of colonized CC, then more substrate. Decomposing leaves were added on top for moisture barrier.

This was done about 5 days ago. Chunks of corn are showing some colonization (white fluff on them) but for some reason it doesnt seem to be colonizing the straw yet? When i did this indoors (regulated temperature/humidity) they were almost done colonizing the straw within a week. Any suggesstions?~M

i would wait it out. takes longer to colonize outdoor imho. night time temps are lower, not like ideal indoor conditions we creat. have patience. moe's outdoor tek says wait at least 3 weeks. so take it easy and they'll go. good luck. think i'm gonna start an outdoor container or two... do you cover your containers with plastic?

no, i dont cover mine with plastic. I figured that the two main things keeping contams at bay when cultivating outdoors was 1) air flow and 2) introduction of other competing organisms. I figure that plastic interrupts both of those processes. Plastic would mostly be used for water retention, so I put a layer of horse manure + decomposed leaves on top of the straw + manure to keep the humidity high and keep the under layers from direct sunlight. Hope this helps. I hope mine take off soon, still waiting.... :-P

yes, yields would be reduced. Im doing mine in flowering pots to keep bugs out until the mycelium becomes more aggressive, then im gonna dig a big hole and layer the bottom and sides of the hole with manure and hay, and then place the pot in the middle. That way they mycelium will have LOTS to grow on around it and continue to produce fruits for a long time.The pots I'm using are normal flowering pots... not too big.Still no growth into the straw/manure, any suggestions?!?!~M

I know a guy who had one of those plastic ponds sunk into his back yard.(or was it a mosquito farm?) Well,anyway,he drained it out,filled the bottom with about six inches of pea gravel,covered the gravel with landscape cloth,and layer in compost untill it was a couple of inches below the top. He dug some bags of cracked corn spawn,cased it with a few inches of leaf compost and had one helluva nice patch going all season. The sqirrels in his neighborhood were very happy!

Anything outdoors will be at the mercy of whatever is outdoors. I tried open beds, the worms ate all the millet and it never managed to spawn the manure. Even if in outoor pots, on a paved area so they're free of the worms, I copped a beetle attack.

Now it will still mend without pasteurisation...

...the problem is the lack of return. The first flush is small relative to the manure used and there's hardly any 2nd flush activity, as the manure gets taken over by other competition.